Stronger Than Me
by Rachel Wilder
Summary: As Rayna faces one of her greatest challenges yet, Bucky is there for her. Written for the Nashville July Fanfic challenge. Complete.


_This story is written for the July fanfic challenge. The prompt calls for 1) a message of some kind and 2) at least one character (other than or along with Rayna and Deacon) who plays a pivotal role. Thanks to KarenES for organizing the challenge and for a great beta read!_

* * *

The morning after the second Chicago show, Bucky Dawes headed up to the penthouse suite to see what was holding up his long-time client, Rayna Jaymes. He knocked to announce his arrival, then slid the keycard into the lock.

"You ready to go, Rayna?" he called out as he walked into the living room. He'd worked with lots of other musicians over the years, but Rayna was a class act. It was a real pleasure when her career finally arrived at the point that he could leave behind his other clients and work exclusively as her manager.

But as he walked in, he found something he hadn't seen for years. Rayna was sitting on the sofa in the living room, wearing the clothes he'd seen her leave the arena in the night before.

"What's going on, Rayna?" Bucky asked as he sat down next to her. "You want me to send up Susan to help you get some of this stuff packed up?"

Rayna looked at him, her face blank. "No, I'll...I'll get to it. I just, I just need a cup of coffee and a minute."

"How about we get you a shower and I'll have Susan pack. And bring you a cup of coffee and maybe some toast. We're supposed to be back out at Midway to take off at noon and get down to Atlanta. You think you can do that?"

Rayna nodded her head. She sighed, then stood up. "I'm sorry, Bucky-I just-last night."

"You don't need to explain to me, Rayna," he interrupted, holding his hand up. He was her manager, but it wasn't necessarily any of his business.

"Just let me get some caffeine in my system and get going," she responded. She headed toward the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Bucky reached for his phone to call down to Susan. Rayna didn't travel with a personal assistant, but she was comfortable with the tour wardrobe coordinator handling her personal things.

He picked up the phone as a text popped up. _ Talk? PH1_

He realized immediately his mistake. It wasn't his phone, it was Rayna's sitting on the coffee table. The text had gone to Deacon.

What in the world was going on? Bucky realized now where that look he'd seen on Rayna's face a few minutes earlier was familiar from-from so many nights when Rayna was out trying to pull Deacon back from whatever disaster he'd gotten himself into that time. Was she really going back down that road? The past few months had been so different, there had always been that deep bond between them, unspoken-but ever since Rayna's last album things had just gotten hard. It seemed to him that instead of the two of them trying to talk it out, they'd just run away from each other. And maybe Rayna and Deacon thought that would fix things-but that was only because of the depth of their denial.

Bucky called down for the assistance and for a breakfast tray to be sent up. Now all he had to do was wait for Rayna to reemerge and fill him in on just what was going on between her and Deacon.

* * *

"Thanks, Buck," Rayna said as she walked across the living room to the table where the breakfast had been delivered. She was wearing the thick soft robe from the hotel and her hair was wrapped up in a towel.

"You want me to send up Julie to blow out your hair?" he asked.

She laughed. "Nah, I think I can handle gettin' it ready for a flight to Atlanta. But we can just go straight to the hotel, can't we? I just need some time."

Bucky poured her a cup of coffee and set it in front of her. "Sure. That's not a problem. I have that press junket for you tomorrow morning, though."

"Shit," Rayna breathed out slowly, each letter taking on a life of its own.

She made that word sound like butter he thought to himself. "What's going on, Rayna. Is this about Deacon? What'd he do?"

She looked over at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Bucky felt the blush rise on the edge of his face. "Sorry, I picked up your phone instead of mine. You talked to him last night?"

Rayna shook her head. "No, I was up all night talking, but it wasn't with Deacon. Plus, I'm pretty sure talking wasn't what Deacon had on his mind last night."

Now Bucky was confused. "I don't mean to pry, but what in the heck do you mean?"

Rayna took a long sip of her coffee and set the cup down. "Bucky, you are one of my oldest and dearest friends and I know better than to keep any secrets from you."

"No, we can keep secrets," Bucky replied. "But if there's something you need to tell me, something that allows me to help you..."

"Deacon kissed me last night," Rayna replied.

"_Kissed you_, kissed you?" Bucky asked. That was not what he had expected to hear.

"Yes. Got in the elevator with me, pressed me up against wall and kissed me like we were teenagers again. I haven't-I haven't had anyone kiss me like that in more than fifteen years."

Bucky reached over and poured himself a cup of coffee and broke a piece off the slice of bacon sitting on Rayna's plate. "And then what?"

"Then he told me he was done talking, then got off the elevator on his floor and then I came back up here."

"And?" He felt like he was at a teenage girl's sleepover asking for gossip about the cheerleader and her boyfriend.

Rayna shook her head. "I didn't know what to think. You know how things have been between us. And so I sent him a text asking him to come up here and talk about it."

"And what happened?" Bucky asked.

"Someone knocked on the door, I answered it and it was Teddy," Rayna replied as she set down her empty coffee cup on the table.

"Teddy?" Bucky asked. "What was he doing here?"

"He came to tell me that he wanted a divorce."

* * *

Bucky waited while Rayna got ready. So, Teddy had asked for a divorce. And what was going on with Deacon? He knew he'd have to ask her, but wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He'd been around last time they'd tried. Every time they'd tried. And even though he knew it was true love between them, the reality of Deacon Claybourne and Rayna Jaymes wasn't pretty and it came with a lot of heartache, tears and pain.

"So, we need to get out to the airport?" Rayna said as she came back out into the living room dressed and her hair up in a ponytail.

"Yeah, we should get out there," Bucky replied. "Or do you want me to see about getting you another jet? You need some space?"

Rayna sat down on the couch across from him and pressed her hand up to her head like it hurt. "I don't know, Buck. I'm not sure I can deal with Juliette...with Deacon...with any of it right now."

"What's gonna happen?" he asked.

"Hell if I know," Rayna replied. "I mean, things have not been good-not for a while, but Teddy showing up last night was about the last thing I would have predicted."

"And Deacon?" He had to at least ask.

Rayna shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. I just...I can't even think about that right now. All I'm thinking about is our girls and having to tell them about this. I just...I can't even..."

Bucky moved over next to her as she broke down.

"I don't want to be a failure," she cried.

He pulled her into his arms. "It's not your failure, Rayna. It happens. You've tried...you've tried for years and you have great girls and this isn't going to ruin anything."

She reached up and brushed the tears away from her eyes. "I just know it's going to destroy their world and that's the last thing I ever wanted for them. I've just...I've done everything to keep that world for them."

"Including giving up Deacon," he said, when she wouldn't.

She looked up at him and nodded. "Especially that. I just never even let my heart open up to him, all these years. I just kept him where I could manage it, even when I knew it was breaking his heart and mine. How did this happen?"

"You love someone and he isn't your husband," Bucky said. "And I know why you've done everything you've had to do, but you know that, don't you, Rayna?"

She nodded again. "And now I've made the worst mess of it."

"So what are you going to do?" he asked.

She stood up and brushed the remaining tears from her face. "I'm gonna go back in that bathroom, fix my mascara and we're gonna book a jet to Atlanta and finish this leg. You think you can charge that to Marshall Evans?"

Bucky nodded. "I think it's perfectly in order. You go fix yourself. I'm gonna make some calls. You're the strongest person I know, Rayna. You're gonna make it through this, too."

_FIN_


End file.
